Be our guest

Today was the first day for making reservations for the Be Our Guest restaurant at the new Fantasyland, and after much perseverance, Nicky managed to get through, although we did cheat and call DVC rather than calling WDW-DINE.

We will be putting their service to the test on New Year's Day 2013, but I don't propose trying the grey stuff, even if they do claim it's delicious!

Amy Grant

OK, it's the hottest day of the year so far, and I'm about to post a Christmas song!

Why - because I noticed today that the narrators have been announced for the Candlelight Processional for this year, and whilst we are there, they are going to be:

21-22 - Trace Adkins (never heard of him, but a country singer)
23-25 - Gary Sinise (Lieutenant Dan!)
26-28 - Amy Grant (see below)
29-30 - Marlee Matlin / Jack Jason (no idea)

I thought I'd look up Amy Grant, as hers sounded like a name that I ought to know. She is an American singer, and does a lot of Christian music, as well as recording some more mainstream pop - her most famous hits seem to be "Baby, Baby" and "The next time I fall" (a duet with Peter Cetera).

I've been having a rummage around on Spotify and Youtube, and as we'll be there at Christmas (leaving 125 days from now according to the countdown) I thought I'd post one of her Christmas songs.

 

Wizarding

Today was a day for a family summer outing.

We started off with a trip to St Albans, where we had a nice lunch and a little wander around the cathedral, but this was really just a warm up for the main event of the day, which was a trip to the Harry Potter Studio Tour.

Despite not being a Harry Potter aficionado, I thought the tour was fantastic. We started off in the Great Hall, and then made our way around loads of different sets from the films, and saw lots of the props and costumes, as well as learning about how some of the effects were achieved on screen.

At the end of the tour we saw a truly amazing model of Hogwarts, which features in almost all of the films, and took almost 74 man years to build!

Here are a few photo highlights of our day.


Oh yes, and we were able to stop off for a spot of Butterbeer on the way round as well!   
Right, must crack on with reading the books now, then I'll appreciate what I've seen today even more.

Ludwig

Just in case we were missing the Olympics, there was a great film on this evening with a bit of an Olympic theme. It was all about Ludwig Guttman, who instigated the Stoke Mandeville Games, which have subsequently become the Paralympics.

Great film, and very moving too!

Segway-ing

Bexhill to Beijing

OK, just for a change, let's have a day off from Olympics coverage and reflection, although no doubt there will be more along fairly soon (trying very hard to avoid using the word "legacy" given its overuse at the moment).

Couple of things that caught my attention today, both supplied by the BBC:

- a magazine article on the website all about deserted building projects in China - check it out here. Obviously, the one that I thought was particularly interesting was the Wonderland Amusement Park - clearly an attempt by the Chinese at a blatant copy of WDW / Disneyland. There are more photos of it here. Truly bizarre.

- the second one was listening to the Simon Mayo show on R2 on the way home. Keane were on, and played one of their new songs, called "Sovereign Light Cafe", which is all about Bexhill-on-Sea! The video was also filmed there, and at the end even features the now famous cafe itself.

Now what

It's all over - what now?

This evening the BBC has been showing its Olympic montages, but sooner or later we are going to have to move on. Bummer - that was a fantastic couple of weeks.

Still, I could bore everyone (and probably will sooner or later) with some Olympics stats - after all, I've been collecting them up along the way!

In other sporting news, Rory won his second major yesterday - the US PGA, and the golf stat of the day is that he is the youngest player since the great Seve to win two majors at such a tender age. Even Tiger didn't manage that. Could bode well for the future ...

And, just because I can't help it, the Olympic stat of the day is that had golf been in the 2012 games (as it will be next time around) and had the US PGA been the Olympic event, then Team GB would have won gold, silver and bronze!

Finally, on a more personal note, we had a fun time this morning Segway-ing at Bluewater. Despite being the only one who hadn't done it before, Jake took to it like a duck to water. If I had any in-focus photos, I'd put one here!

Olympics - day 16

Sitting here watching the closing ceremony, the time has come for the last in-games update, quick before they extinguish the flame.

The last day of competition saw three more medals for Team GB - a gold and a silver in the boxing and a silver in the modern pentathlon, bringing the Team GB total to an amazing 65, our best effort for over a century. We won medals in 19 of the 36 sports, and golds in 12 of them. Fantastic.

TEAM GB
Today: 1 gold, 2 silver
Final total: 29 gold, 17 silver, 19 bronze
Final medal table position: 3rd

Olympics - day 15

Another special Olympics day draws to a close, and tomorrow, the whole thing will be over - all too soon.

Some Team GB highlights:

• We have to start with Mo Farah who, having won the 10,000m last Saturday, did a truly amazing double and won the 5,000m tonight. Coming down the back straight for the last time, he was in the front, but we were all worried for him as there were three or four others breathing down his neck, but he kept getting faster and faster and there was just no way he was letting anyone come past. Truly fantastic.
• The day had got off to a good start at Eton Dorney, with a gold and a bronze in the canoe sprinting. Ed McKeever led from the start and was still leading 200m later at the finish line.
• One boxing final tonight with British interest, with two more to come tomorrow, and Luke Campbell showed the others the way by winning gold.
• And finally, the amazing 18-year-old Tom Daley put together six great dives this evening and claimed a bronze medal in the 10m diving. He was clearly pleased with his performance, and looked like a very happy bronze medallist. And why not too! Well done Tom!!

However, it didn't go all according to plan today:

• Our men's hockey team lost their bronze medal match with Australia and finished in 4th place.
• Annie Last led most of the way round the mountain bike course at Hadleigh Farm, but ended up in 8th place.
• No medals for our men in the modern pentathlon.

And whilst I've been rather biased in my comments over the last couple of weeks, I can't help but mention the Jamaican sprinters again today. They roared home in the 4 x 100m relay - hardly surprising when you have Blake and Bolt on the last two legs, and claimed a new world record of 36.85s. Bolt is now the proud owner of 6 athletics gold medals, second only to Carl Lewis in the post war era.

TEAM GB

Today: 3 gold, 2 bronze

So far: 28 gold, 15 silver, 19 bronze

Medal table position: 3rd

Olympics - day 14

A mixed bag for Team GB today. Lots going on as we get towards the end of the 30th Olympiad.

• Athletics - no medals in the stadium today. We had finalists in a number of events, and came close in some - our men's 4 x 400m relay team came in 4th, 0.13s behind the bronze medallists, and Steve Lewis finished 5th in the pole vault. Our men's 4 x 100m relay team carried on the GB tradition by mucking up the last handover in their heat and getting disqualified.
• Boxing - a good day for Team GB - two more through to the weekend's finals, meaning we are guaranteed three gold or silver medals in the next two days. Anthony Ogogo lost his semi-final and so finishes with a bronze.
• Canoe Sprint - through to several finals tomorrow, so hopefully we will be able to add one to our 'sports with medals' tally tomorrow morning.
• Cycling - BMX - both our competitors through to their finals safely, and then Shanaze came 6th whilst Liam Phillips crashed and came last. No medals for Team GB - disappointing.
• Diving - Tom Daley just made it through the preliminary round of the 10m diving, but only managed 15th place. Really needs to pick his game up tomorrow if he wants to win a medal.
• Hockey - the women's team picked themselves up and dusted themselves off after their semi-final disappointment and came back to win bronze by beating New Zealand 2-0. Let's hope they can also be an inspiration to the men's team in their bronze medal match tomorrow.
• Sailing - we came into the day assured of two medals, and that's what we got. The only disappointment was that neither the men's or women's 470 pairs had a good final race and both came away with silver.
• Swimming - after 4th place by Keri-Anne Payne yesterday, we wanted Daniel Fogg to manage at least one better placing in the 10km open water swim, but he did one worse, finishing 5th.
• Taekwondo - an up and down day. Looked like Lutalo Muhammad was out of it when he lost his quarter-final, but thanks to other results and a win in his repechage, he was through to the bronze medal match which he won.

One other thing, here's an interesting statistic - if we exclude swimming from the medals table, we have the same number of golds as the USA (we have 25 golds including none in swimming, the USA have 41 golds including 16 in swimming)!!

TEAM GB

Today: 2 silver, 3 bronze

So far: 25 gold, 15 silver, 17 bronze

Medal table position: 3rd

Olympics - day 13

A short report today, as it's been a long (but fun) day.

We went to the Olympic Park!!

We saw the first of the men's hockey semi-finals, in which Germany beat Australia 4-2. Just as well that we didn't have tickets for the second of the semi-finals, as it didn't go well, with Team GB losing 9-2 to Holland.

Still, we're back in amongst the medals today, and it would have been more had there been any wind in Weymouth. But still, gold and bronze in the individual dressage, gold in the women's boxing, and gold in the women's taekwondo - bringing the gold total to an amazing 25.

A longer report of our day in the park (with pictures) to follow at a later date.

TEAM GB
Today: 3 gold, 1 bronze
So far: 25 gold, 13 silver, 14 bronze
Medal table position: 3rd

Olympics - day 12

Well I suppose that after all of the amazing results that we've had over the last week or so, things were going to come off the boil sooner or later.

No medals for Team GB today.

In the hockey, both the men's and the women's teams made it through to the semi-finals, and it was the women's turn today. Sadly they lost 2-1 and so will have to battle New Zealand on Friday for a bronze medal. In the men's tournament, the semi-finals are tomorrow, and we will be there to see one of them. Unfortunately we won't be seeing the GB game, but will be watching the Australia vs Germany clash earlier in the day. Depending on how we get on, we might stick around and see if the Team GB game is shown on the big screen.

The good news is that we are now up to seven guaranteed but not yet awarded medals - five in the boxing and two more in the sailing.

Tomorrow will no doubt be a better day - after all, we will be there in person to add our support.

TEAM GB
Today: None
So far: 22 gold, 13 silver, 13 bronze
Medal table position: 3rd

Olympics - day 11

Today's post can only really be about one thing - records.

1. Sir Chris Hoy enters the record books today as the only GB Olympian to win six gold medals, beating Sir Steve Redgrave into second place with 5.
2. Our medal total at the end of day 11 is now 48, one more than the total we achieved in Beijing four years ago, and there are more guaranteed medals to come, in both boxing and sailing.
3. At the end of day 11, we have won 22 gold medals, three more than the 19 that we won in 2008.
4. This is our best Olympics for medals for over a century.
5. In 2008 we won medals in 13 different sports. We have already won medals in 13 sports in 2012, and again, we are guaranteed to finish up with more than 13 as no boxing medals have been awarded yet.
6. At this stage in the games, we have already won more medals than in Beijing in ten different sports (athletics, canoe slalom, road cycling, equestrian, artistic gymnastics, judo, rowing, shooting, tennis and triathlon).
7. The velodrome action finished today, and our track cycling team has been absolutely dominant. Out of ten events, we won seven golds, one silver and one bronze. The only event we didn't win a medal in was due to being disqualified, otherwise we almost certainly would have won it. (The only disappointment is that we didn't beat our Beijing track cycling medal total, and this is hardly our fault. Firstly, the number of events was reduced, and secondly the rules were changed so that each country could only enter one competitor in each event. Very harsh. Imagine if Jamaica were told that they couldn't enter Bolt and Blake in the sprinting, or the USA were told that they couldn't enter Lochte and Phelps in the swimming!)
8. Ranking teams by the number of different sports in which they have won gold medals, we currently lie second - an impressive achievement (China - 11, GB - 10, USA - 8).
9. Looking at the top three countries in the medal table and considering the numbers of medals per head of population, Team GB are in the lead by far, currently with 3.5 gold medals per 10m of population (China 0.3 and USA 1.0) and 7.7 total medals per 10m of population (China 0.5 and USA 2.2).

Amazing stuff, and to be remembered for many years. Anything else from here on in is simply a bonus!

One other great piece of news from today is that the men's hockey team drew 1-1 with Spain, meaning that they are through to the semi-finals (for the first time since 1988). 

TEAM GB

Today: 4 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze

So far: 22 gold, 13 silver, 13 bronze

Medal table position: 3rd

Olympics - day 10

A slower day today, but still great stuff.

Two more gold medals, one from the equestrian jumping team and one from Jason Kenny in the cycling sprint. Jason was probably as much relieved as elated given that he was chosen for the ride in front of Chris Hoy. It's a real shame that the rules now say that there can only be one rider from each country in each event - otherwise we'd be cleaning up even more at the velodrome.

The other medal today was a bronze for Beth Tweddle on the uneven bars - great that she can finish off her career by adding an Olympic medal to her impressive collection.

So, we are on 18 golds, only one behind our total from Beijing, and 40 in total, with only 7 to go to get to the 2008 total. Looking more and more likely that we can go past both of these targets before the end of Sunday.

We've got some more guaranteed medals with three boxers through to the semi-finals (in boxing both of the losing semi-finalists get bronze medals).

TEAM GB
Today: 2 gold, 1 bronze
So far: 18 gold, 11 silver, 11 bronze
Medal table position: 3rd

Olympics - day 9

Somehow, each day gets better than the last. Since Wednesday, our daily medal tallies have been 5, 6, 7 and 7, and today we went one better with 8!

• GOLDS - Ben Ainslie in the Finn class sailing and Andy Murray in the men's singles tennis.
• SILVERS - Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in the Star class sailing, Louis Smith on the pommel horse, Andy Murray and Laura Robson in the mixed doubles, and Christine Ohuruogu in the 400m.
• BRONZES - Max Whitlock on the pommel horse, and Ed Clancy in the omnium cycling.

So, taking stock with 9 days down and 7 left to go, Team GB are on a total of 37 medals. No-one seems to be saying it too loud, but its starting to look like we could go past our Beijing results, both for gold medals (19) and total medals (47). At this point in Beijing our medal total was 25.

The other big news of the day: Bolt retains his Olympic title in 9.63s.

TEAM GB

Today: 2 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze

So far: 16 gold, 11 silver, 10 bronze

Medal table position: 3rd

Olympics - day 8

If we were wondering why it was called Super Saturday, we're not any more!!

• GOLD - rowing - men's coxless fours
• GOLD - rowing - women's lightweight double sculls
• SILVER - rowing - men's lightweight double sculls
• GOLD - cycling - women's team pursuit
• GOLD - athletics - heptathlon - Jessica Ennis
• GOLD - athletics - long jump - Greg Rutherford
• GOLD - athletics - 10,000m - Mo Farah

So many amazing stories in amongst the seven medals of the day, it's difficult to know where to start, so here are just few thoughts:

• Jessica Ennis has been truly amazing over the last couple of days. Her picture has been everywhere over the last few years, and she's been called the face of the games. The pressure on her must have been amazing, and still she delivers the gold.
• Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter who won today's silver medal. You guys are heroes, and have nothing to be sad or sorry about. Hopefully you will see that when the disappointment of missing gold fades. The post race interview was heart-rending stuff. You even had Inverdale in tears!
• Five events in the velodrome so far and four golds for Team GB. Probably would have been five without Friday's disqualification. The women's pursuit team took the rest of the field apart - new world records every time they raced.
• Records falling all other the place - first Team GB long jump medal for almost fifty years, and first ever 10,000m gold. When we'd got to five golds, the comments came in that the last time Team GB did that was in 1908. No mention of whether six has ever happened?

Football provided the only disappointment of the day (same as yesterday) as the men's team went out to South Korea on penalties, but we can be assured of more medals tomorrow, in the sailing, at Wimbledon (where Murray will be in two finals after he and Laura Robson had a great day, winning both their quarter and semi-finals), and no doubt at the velodrome again.

And today's report really should end on a non Team GB note, as the greatest Olympian of all time bowed out on a high this evening. Michael Phelps helped the USA 4 x 100m medley relay team to a gold medal, ending his Olympic career with a truly staggering 22 medals, 18 of them gold.

TEAM GB

Today: 6 gold, 1 silver

So far: 14 gold, 7 silver, 8 bronze

Medal table position: 3rd

Olympics - day 7

Keeps getting better and better - 5 medals on Wednesday, 6 yesterday, and 7 today. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

In today's round up:

• Two cycling medals on offer in the velodrome, and two golds for Team GB - one for Pendleton in the Keirin, making amends for yesterday, and one for the men's pursuit team who took the Aussies apart in the final with a new world record.
• Three medals today in the rowing bringing us to six for these Olympics at Eton Dorney (equalling the Beijing rowing total with one more day of rowing finals to go). The highlight has to be seeing Katherine Grainger (along with Anna Watkins) finally get the gold she deserves so much after silver at the last three games. Bronze for the men's pair and for Alan Campbell in the single sculls, who was properly tired and emotional after his race.
• Judo medals on consecutive days with Karina Bryant taking bronze. No medals in judo in the last twelve years and then 2 in 24 hours.
• Adlington got another bronze in the swimming, making her our most successful Olympic swimmer ever.
• Ennis had a great first day in the heptathlon. The high jump and shot put were both OK, but her first event of the day, the 100m hurdles, was just amazing. She ran 12.54s - equalling the time that won the 100m hurdles individual event in Beijing! A strong finish to the day as well with a PB in the 200m, and Ennis leads on 4158 points, 184 in front of her nearest challenger.
• An amazing day in the men's tennis semi-finals at Wimbledon. Federer and Del Potro slugged it out in an epic match, Federer finally coming through 19-17 in the third. Eventually, Murray and Djokovic came out for their match, and Murray did it in straight sets, and will battle Federer on Sunday for gold in the final. A repeat of the Wimbledon final last month, but hopefully with a different result this time!
• In the hockey, the men's team beat Pakistan, and so after three games are equal top of their group with Australia. (So want Team GB to get through to the semi-finals and to get drawn in the game we are going to see!)
• In the sailing, Ainslie had a good day, finishing 6th and 1st in the two races, and is only two points behind the Dane going into Sunday's double points medal race. Provided he beats the Dane on Sunday and comes no lower than 7th, the gold is his. In the men's star, we're in an even stronger position, first by eight points with just Sunday's race to go.
• The only sad news of the day was in the women's football, as we went out in the quarter-finals to Canada.

Wow, what a day, and I can't wait to see what Super Saturday will bring ...

TEAM GB

Today: 3 gold, 4 bronze

So far: 8 gold, 6 silver, 8 bronze

Medal table position: 4th

Olympics - day 6

And I thought that yesterday was a good day for Team GB! Today has been pretty impressive too. Here's a quick round-up by sport:

• Rowing - our first medal of the day came this morning from the men's lightweight four, getting the silver medal. Our teams were in both of the other finals of the morning, but finished 5th in both.
• Judo - blissfully unaware of what was going on in the judo up to now, Gemma Gibbons appeared with a silver medal today.
• Canoe - I thought that getting gold and bronze in the same race yesterday in the men's cycling time trial was pretty amazing, but the canoeists went one better today, winning gold and silver in the C2 slalom.
• Shooting - just a couple of minutes after our first gold of the day, our next one came at the Royal Artillery Barracks with Peter Wilson claiming gold in the double trap shooting.
• Cycling - and the velodrome action kicked off today. Two medals were up for grabs today, in the men's and women's team sprint. Team GB was dominant in both events, but desperately sadly the women's team were disqualified for a problem with their changeover. Otherwise, they were on for gold. The men's team nailed it, and claimed the gold in a new world record time, bringing Sir Chris Hoy's gold tally to five in Olympic Games - we can now start the debate about what being the "greatest GB Olympian" means (most medals = Wiggins, most golds = Hoy / Redgrave).
• Sailing - no medals on offer today, but a good day for team GB. Ainslie finally beat the Dane (twice) and has closed the gap, only trailing him by three points with three races to go. We're in the lead in a couple of other classes as well. Maybe medals when they start coming in the sailing on Sunday.
• Tennis - Murray is through to the semi finals, but has to face Djokovic next, and this evening the Murray / Robson pair won their first mixed doubles match (in a straight to tie break third set) putting them through to the last eight.
• Hockey - Team GB ladies won 3-0 against Belgium, making it three wins out of three, and edging them closer to a semi-final place.
• Boxing - Anthony Ogogo beat the world number one from Ukraine to go through to the middleweight quarter-final.
• Equestrian - Team GB are in first and second place at the end of the first day of the dressage.

Phew - busy day! And the athletics starts tomorrow ...

TEAM GB

Today: 3 gold, 3 silver

So far: 5 gold, 6 silver, 4 bronze

Medal table position: 5th

Olympics - day 5

The medals have started to come!

1. GOLD - for the hugely impressive pairing of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning in the rowing. Our first gold of the games, and the first ever women's rowing gold for Team GB.
2. Bronze - for the men's eight rowers, and Greg Searle gets another medal twenty years after he picked up gold in Barcelona along with his brother and their blubbing cox.
3. GOLD and bronze - two medals in one race - the men's cycling time trial. The soon-to-be-knighted Bradley Wiggins cruised to a gold medal to go along with his Tour de France win, whilst Chris Froome got a great bronze to go with his Tour de France runners up place. Wiggins now has 7 Olympic medals - the most of any GB Olympian. Mind you, if things go well, Hoy might be challenging that soon.
4. Silver - in the pool for Michael Jamieson in the 200m breaststroke, a race in which Team GB has some pedigree (Wilkie, Goodhew, Moorhouse). It took a new world record to beat him, and even then, only just.

So, more than doubled the medal total today, and in other encouraging news, Murray is through to the quarter-finals, as are the men's football team, having beaten Uruguay 1-0 this evening to top their group.

TEAM GB

Today: 2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze

So far: 2 gold, 3 silver, 4 bronze

Medal table position: 11th